Effects of atmospheric fallouts on heavy metal elements accumulation in soils in farmland areas in the Taiyuan basin, Shanxi, China and sources of fallouts

The authors studied the distribution of heavy metals in dry and wet atmospheric fallouts and their annual fluxes in the Taiyuan basin and the effects of the fallouts on heavy metal accumulation in soils. In addition, they studied the sources of atmospheric fallouts by using the enrichment factor and principal component analysis. Results show that the heavy metal elements As and Cd in the fallouts are mainly derived from human activities, Pb possibly from automobile exhaust and soils, and Hg also from polluted soils.